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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Peyton Manning's road to the Super Bowl has taken an unexpected detour through Omaha, of all places.

The Denver Broncos quarterback pretended to shed light this week on why he shouted the Nebraska city’s name 44 times from the line of scrimmage during their playoff win over San Diego last weekend.

"I've had a lot of people ask me what 'Omaha' means," Manning said. "It's a run play, but it could be a pass play, or a play-action pass, depending on a couple of things. The wind, which way we're going, the quarter and the jerseys we're wearing. It varies from play to play."

In other words, Manning wasn’t telling. Or maybe he was.

It could mean different things in different situations, said NFL experts who tried to explain this week.

"I think it shows Peyton Manning really loves Omaha," Mayor Jean Stothert said. "I'll personally take him on a tour. He has an official invitation now."

Chamber of Commerce President David Brown said he wants to explore the possibility of hiring Manning, one of the sporting world's top pitchmen, to shoot a promotional ad for Omaha, home of billionaire Warren Buffett, the NCAA College World Series and five Fortune 500 companies, including Mutual of Omaha.

"We'd be foolish not to," Brown said, adding that he realizes Manning's fee probably would be prohibitive.

But if Manning leads the Broncos to the Super Bowl and yells "Omaha" as many times as he did Sunday, the city could get more exposure without paying a cent, much less the $4 million fee for a 30-second Super Bowl ad.

"Commercials cost money to make, and you have to come up with the idea and hire a production company to make it. It could cost $4 million just for the production, and we get it for free," said Omaha PR and advertising executive Doug Parrott.

"Everybody in Omaha really needs to root for Peyton to take down Tom Brady and the Patriots so we can hear 'Omaha' in the Super Bowl."

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.